AS A well-known former footy-show host was apt to say, it was a big week in football. The AFL season came to a nail-biting close on a sunny Saturday at the MCG. Following the musical warm-up from Irene Cara, the Countdown crew and Australian Idol hopefuls, the grand final attracted big viewing numbers for the Ten network, which also benefited from related offerings on the day.

In Melbourne, 1.184 million people tuned into watch the clash between the Sydney Swans and the ultimately victorious West Coast Eagles. The match drew 3.155 million viewers nationally, making it the most-watched show in the country.

Ten's pre-match coverage and post-game wrap-up also drew substantial numbers of viewers and they spilled over to give Ten's Saturday News an unfamiliar place in Melbourne's Top 10.

Other footy-related programs also scored well last week. The Footy Show's all-singing, all-dancing end-of-season spectacular from the Rod Laver Arena once again afforded fans the chance to see their favourite players playing rock stars and strutting one of the world's biggest karaoke stages with glee. Ten's Brownlow Medal telecast, enhanced by live-to-air round-by-round commentary from Tim Lane and Anthony Hudson, also rated well in Melbourne.

Beyond football, the big news of the week was Ray Martin's interview with the recently widowed Terri Irwin, which was the third-most watched show around the country, and the fifth-season premiere of Dancing with the Stars.

However, as was the case last week, Ten's strong showing in both the Melbourne and the national top 10 charts was not enough to deliver it a win in the overall prime-time ratings, where Nine again triumphed. The grand final and much of the associated programming fell outside prime-time.

In Melbourne Nine achieved a 29.2 per cent prime-time share while Seven and Ten tied on 26.2. Nine got an appreciable boost from the Terri Irwin interview and its proven stayers performed: CSI, 60 Minutes, Getaway and the Sunday News all made it into Melbourne's top 20, as did Prehistoric Park.

Seven continues to do well with drama. It has the most popular imported drama in Melbourne, Grey's Anatomy (433,000), and the most popular local offering in All Saints (452,000).

The most-watched show on the ABC was Midsomer Murders (1.345 million viewers nationally) and SBS's most popular offering was Top Gear (711,000) which came in at number 90 on the national Top 100.